SE men falls to SAU, 76-63

By MATT THOMAS Southeastern

January 3, 2014

MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Southeastern struggled to shake of the rust of a month-long break and fell to Southern Arkansas on Thursday night 76-63 in Magnolia, Ark.

The loss is the fourth in-a-row for the Savage Storm who dip to 4-4 on the year overall and 2-1 in Great American Conference play heading into a Saturday afternoon matchup with Arkansas-Monticello at 4 p.m. in Monticello, Ark.

SE shot 33.3 percent from the field while SAU shot the ball at a 35.2 percent clip.

The real difference came at the free throw line where the Storm hit 13-of-22 free throw tries, while the Muleriders made 44 trips to the free throw line and hit 34 of them to make up the difference.

Urald King led Southeastern with 18 points on the night, while John Balwigaire added 15.

Darius Harris chipped in 10 points and completed a double-double by turning in a game-high 12 rebounds.

SE held a 47-to-43 edge in rebounds with King adding nine and the duo of Balwigaire and Daichi Taniguchi each adding seven.

Balwigaire and Taylor Smaller each dished out three assists.

SAU held a slight 20-19 edge in points off turnovers, while SE took advantage of its rebounding edge by turning in a 19-5 lead in second-chance points.

The Storm got off to a slow start, falling into an 18-2 hole early before trailing 41-28 at halftime.

SE came out in the second half and eventually erased the deficit and tying the game with 5:55 to play on a King bucket at 55-55.

SAU, however, would regain the lead and pull away down the stretch to hand the Storm a 76-63 loss.